Toyota announces exports of US-assembled Venza crossover to South Korea

Toyota announced it began to export US-assembled Venza crossovers to its distributor in South Korea last month. Venza exports to South Korea are initially forecasted at approximately 600 units annually. The announcement was made by Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.
Senior Vice-President Bob Carter at the Barclays Capital Global Automotive Conference.

These Venza vehicles will be produced by team members at Toyota's manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Ky.  The plant is Toyota's largest manufacturing facility outside of Japan, employing about 6,600 team members directly and creating nearly 20,000 additional jobs with vendors and suppliers in Kentucky and other states in the region.

This is the first time the US-assembled Venza will be exported outside of North America.

Toyota began exporting US-assembled vehicles in 1988, and now exports US-assembled vehicles to 21 countries around the world. These exports are expected to increase in calendar year 2012 to more than 130,000 units - a 52 per cent increase from last year and an all-time high for Toyota.

The company began exporting Indiana-assembled Sienna minivans and Kentucky-assembled Camry sedans to South Korea last year. Other exports include the Kentucky-produced Avalon sedan, the Indiana-produced Highlander and Sequoia SUVs and the Texas-produced Tacoma and Tundra pickup trucks.

"We are proud that Venza, designed, engineered and assembled in the US, has garnered so much interest not only here, but abroad," said Carter. "The export of Venza vehicles to South Korea helps maintain Toyota's strong, stable base of US jobs, and is the result of the great work of our talented US team members and our extensive investments across North America. We look forward to other opportunities to continue expanding exports from our American operations."

Venza exports to South Korea will ship from the Port of Hueneme, near Oxnard, Calif.

Posted in: Avalon,Bob Carter,Highlander,International,Oxnard,Port of Hueneme,Sequoia,South Korea,Tacoma,Toyota,Toyota Motor North America,Toyota Motor Sales,Toyota Tundra,Toyota Venza